DAWSON'S CREEK: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR (TV)
Summary
One in this series about the romantic exploits of Dawson Leery and his friends in coastal Massachusetts. In this episode, Pacey visits Dawson in his home at midnight on his sixteenth birthday to find him panicking about how his life is “stagnant” and uninteresting, and he resolves to get Joey back. In the morning, Mitch makes breakfast for Dawson, and he and Gail talk privately about his gift. Gail reveals that she already bought him a car, and Dawson overhears them as they argue. At the Ice House, Joey and Pacey plans Dawson’s surprise party, and Joey appears uncomfortable around Jack. Abby arrives with some other friends and they gush embarrassingly about Jack’s recent coming out, saying he is the “first one,” and Jack rebuffs their attention. Andie attends a therapy session and confesses her feelings of anxiety about her family’s problems, and the doctor encourages her to examine what she herself wants and have “one night of imperfection.” Joey talks to Bessie about her hurt feelings over Jack’s rejection, and Dawson soon arrives, wanting to talk to Joey. He boldly declares that he wants her back, saying they are meant to be, but Joey protests that they broke up because she was trying to figure out her life, and he leaves, upset. Pacey and Andie take Dawson out as the others prepare the surprise party, but Dawson seems too depressed for festivities. They go to a jazz club and Andie, who is “cutting loose,” explains all about indulging the id, and she and Dawson decide to drink alcohol for the first time. At the party, Abby and her friends continue fawning over Jack, which makes him uncomfortable. Abby says that he is now an “outcast” like her and says they are more sexually free than the “Puritanical” others, and he considers. Jen and Ty get friendly, but Ty stops in the act of kissing her, saying things are getting “out of hand.” At the club, a thoroughly inebriated Dawson and Andie take the stage and sing the blues about their current life troubles, and Dawson reveals that he knows all about the surprise party. Pacey drags them out, but not before Andie lets slip to the waitress that they are underage. Mitch and Gail continue sniping at each other, and Ty stops a private moment between himself and Jen in Dawson’s new car, saying she is “tempting” him and criticizing her sexual history. Dawson arrives late and drunk to the party with Andie and Pacey in tow, and when Joey takes Dawson upstairs to sober up, they walk in on Jack and Abby kissing. On the way downstairs, Jack assures Abby and her friends that he is “more gay than ever.” Dawson then makes an embarrassingly blunt “toast” to everyone in the room, revealing their secrets, including Joey, whom he mocks for trying to “find herself” at age sixteen, and he ends up falling into the cake. Later, he and Andie languish in the bathroom, swearing never to drink again. Gail and Mitch decide to return Dawson’s new car as a result of his actions and agree to parent more cohesively. Joey and Jack talk, and he admits that he kissed Abby because he wanted to feel normal, and that being gay is a “lonely thought” for him. Ty and Jen officially break up, and she points out his hypocrisies, leaving in tears despite his apologies. Dawson too apologizes to Joey, who says she forgives him, and he admits that he is lonely. She says that their relationship failed because they are too close and he practically “invented” her, and she needs to know if she can be “a whole person alone.” They reaffirm their love for each other as Dawson falls asleep. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: WB
- DATE: March 3, 1999 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:45:29
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:69802
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Teenagers
- SERIES RUN: WB - TV series, 1998-2003
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Paul Stupin … Executive Producer
- Kevin Williamson … Executive Producer, Created by
- Mike White … Supervising Producer
- Greg Prange … Supervising Producer
- Dana Baratta … Producer
- David Semel … Producer, Director
- Darin Goldberg … Co-Producer
- Shelley Meals … Co-Producer
- David Blake Hartley … Co-Producer
- Janice Cooke-Leonard … Co-Producer
- Heidi Ferrer … Writer
- Danny Lux … Music by
- Paula Cole … Theme Music by
- James Van Der Beek … Cast, Dawson Leery
- Katie Holmes … Cast, Joey Potter
- Michelle Williams … Cast, Jen Lindley
- Joshua Jackson … Cast, Pacey Witter
- Mary-Margaret Humes … Cast, Gail Leery
- John Wesley Shipp … Cast, Mitch Leery
- Mary Beth Peil … Cast, Evelyn 'Grams' Ryan
- Nina Repeta … Cast, Bessie Potter
- Meredith Monroe … Cast, Andie McPhee
- Monica Keena … Cast, Abby Morgan
- Kerr Smith … Cast, Jack McPhee
- Eddie Mills … Cast, Tyson 'Ty' Hicks
- Gina Stewart … Cast, Waitress
- Rhoda Griffis … Cast, Dr. Marle Summer
- Joanna Garcia … Cast, Girl #1 (Tracey)
- Emilie Jacobs … Cast, Girl #2 (Kelly)
- Sara Seidman … Cast, Random Singer
- Brian Lee Powell … Cast, Jazz Musician